


The Sweetest Eyes

by victorianvirgil



Series: A Melody of Burning Matches [7]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Elton John - Freeform, Fluff, Love, M/M, Singing, Slow Dancing, Wedding, a melody of burning matches ficlet, bruh i’m not crying you’re crying, cute shit, it’s the day before roman’s birthday, mlm wedding, old people, present dayish, the angst is over it’s just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:48:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21576307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/victorianvirgil/pseuds/victorianvirgil
Summary: A Melody of Burning Matches Ficlet to be read after the Epilogue (continue on at your own risk)After years and years of being tormented by his own emotions and drowning in his unconditional love for his soulmate, Roman Castillo finally managed to make Virgil Irons his. And now, nearly three decades later, he gets to do it all over again—this time with a ring.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: A Melody of Burning Matches [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1441996
Comments: 27
Kudos: 58





	The Sweetest Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> It’s recommended that you listen to Elton John’s “Your Song” because it inspired the chapter (also is one of my faves by him!)

_ June 3, 2013 _

It was the first day since the turn of the century that Roman was without his wedding ring, the one his partner had gotten for him come their fifteenth anniversary. Of course, they argued over what officially was the start of them─they had known each other as kids and Virgil fell in love with him when they were teenagers only to break his heart years later when they were young adults. Mend it again too, mend them.

_ Them,  _ now there was a word Roman loved hearing. Thirty years and it still flooded his body with warmth like the first rays from the sun after a long, dreadful winter.

“Is the white too presumptuous?” he asked, brown eyes searching the mirror before him in an attempt to meet the gaze of a pair of intelligent green he knew were studying each and every stitch in his suit. The taller man didn’t bother looking up, attentive in his final adjustments that would seem invisible to a careless or untrained eye.

“Getting married in your fifties is presumptuous,” Logan Conroy countered, studying Roman’s left arm and allowing his gaze to travel down the limb, “especially the day before your birthday. The white though? Much more tasteful than the gold you wanted.”

In turn, Roman scoffed and pulled his hand away. Virgil had agreed to the marriage under the condition that they kept the wedding traditional, no excessive uses of color. Clean cut but gorgeous, and they had agreed on everything until Roman’s suit. But he wore white, ever the gentleman, and Virgil was clad in his black─ringlets of gray in his hair adding a bit of color to his look. Their attires were perfect complements to one another, and although Roman would never admit it, he was starting to agree that the white suited him better than the gold.

Finally, Roman replied, “I’m only going to be fifty-one.”

Logan looked up then, brow raised and yes,  _ only  _ was not the word either of them would use there.

“I . . . support you, Roman, even if I don’t understand the necessity of all this. You don’t have children, you’re financially stable, and weddings are just overpriced, nonsensical-”

“Thank you for your input, Logan,” Roman said while waving the other off of him, wiping his sweaty palms on the front of his pants. “And to answer your question, it’s because it’ll be fun! Also, Virge hates leaving the house and dressing up in his old age, so two birds with one stone.”

Logan merely shrugged, not doubting the fact that Roman may have only had two reasons to undergo the elaborate ordeal. But of course there was more than that. Much, much more. Only Virgil was the one who truly understood what the wedding meant to him, even Patton surprised when Roman started planning about a year ago.

The childhood dream of a boy young enough to still have hope for the future but old enough to know to keep his attraction to men a secret from a society determined to watch him suffer. That would be repulsed by him in white slow dancing with the love of his life, moving as one as they twirled and Roman sang freely, loved him freely.

And it wasn’t like anything would change, which was what all of the invitees and people of the world commented on upon first hearing about the ceremony. Roman and Virgil had lived together for over twenty-five years, worn rings for fifteen, and been in love with each other for longer still. Roman would remain a Castillo─even if  _ Roman Irons _ had been on the tip of his tongue for years, ever since the support of rights for gay and bisexual men increased─so really, nothing would change at all.

And yet, Roman couldn’t wipe the smile from his lips, even to hide the whispers of wrinkles deepening with time, with every laugh or grin Virgil brought out of him. The wedding hadn’t even truly begun but it was already the most perfect moment in his entire life, and he never even thought it would come to pass. Especially not with Virgil Irons as his groom.

He was happy, as happy as he had ever been. Graying hair and all.

“Hey there,” an enthusiastic voice grinned from the doorway, the two men turning to see the third member of their old band enter, daughter tightly clutching his hand with her own tiny grip. “Say hi to Dad and Uncle Roman, Frankie!”

The young girl, somehow already five years old, smiled up at Roman with her father’s blue eyes.

Francesca Conroy-Lamoureux knew neither fear nor shyness, tearing her hand from her father’s in favor of running towards her favorite person in the entire universe. Logan patted her head softly, eyes still on his partner. “I assume they’re ready for us?” Patton nodded in turn. “Come along now, child. Pay close attention to today for I hope you will not make the same mistake as to marry.”

So accustomed to Logan and his clever jabs, Roman hardly thought anything of it as Patton took his hand and pulled him down the hall, Logan and Francesca following closely behind. They stepped outside, following the cobblestone path around the building─whatever the hell its purpose aside from a wedding destination was beyond Roman─towards the soft murmurings of a family composed crowd.

There stood his nieces, the seemingly infinite number that his four brothers and sister had produced over the past thirty years. The youngest of the lot was seven, and while her sisters and cousins swarmed Roman, she rounded him in favor of hugging Francesca.

Roman spoke with his family, smiling as he peered over the shoulder of the eldest to see his mother, her tanned skin glowing in a light it hadn’t in years now, not since her husband’s death and her diagnosis of stage four cancer.

Yet she was still a pillar of strength and Roman broke away from the girls, kneeling by his mother’s side and taking her delicate and shaking hand in his own.

“I . . .” she began, Roman patient with the way she wheezed and needed time before continuing, “I never thought this day would come.”

“That makes two of us,” he confessed, bringing her hand up to his lips, leaving a gentle kiss in his wake. “Another son-in-law. Officially.”

“Better than another grandchild,” she mumbled, causing Roman to tilt his head back and laugh. It was every woman’s dream to be a grandmother except for Mrs. Sofia Castillo. She loved her descendants, of course, but they made her feel old, especially as they graduated college, married, and had children of their own.

Roman and Virgil’s marriage made her feel young again in a way that Roman was slowly beginning to understand.

And like his mother, time was his friend. It had allowed him to meet his best friends, sing to millions, and fall in love with a man as close to perfect as a human being could get.

The music began─courtesy of Logan who had pawned Francesca off to Grandma Lamoureux─and Patton fell behind Mrs. Castillo’s wheelchair, kissing the top of her head in acknowledgement before offering his best friend a smile. In front of them, Roman’s nieces had almost walked halfway down the aisle and they were late─a Castillo through and through─but he needed a moment to take this in.

Because who better to walk a dream with than his mother and best friend by his side?

A deep breath and then they were striding down the aisle, phones and cameras fixated on them but Roman wasn’t looking their way, completely enraptured by the man a small twenty paces away. They had made eye contact immediately, Virgil Irons unable to suppress his laughter. The whole ordeal was extravagant, after all,  _ far too much so for old men like us, Ro _ . His mother’s wheelchair had been painted gold and the Castillos had all worn red─including Patton, who was hardly considered a far extension of their family. He was one of them, always had been.

And Roman was walking to Virgil like a perfect bride, he couldn’t blame his partner for laughing.

Besides, once his mother let go of his hand─almost reluctantly, to his surprise─Roman could see the adoration in his Virgil’s eyes. An infinite sea of love pooled in the gray, just as vibrant as they had been a quarter of a century ago. A millenia ago. Those eyes had seen every inch of Roman, every flaw and sliver of skin.

But he still loved him all the same.

“I told you white was a good idea,” Virgil said upon taking his arm, Roman laughing as he wiped at his eyes and attempted to refocus the world blurring before him.

“So I’ve heard,” Roman grinned, squeezing Virgil’s arm and allowing the other to guide him the few steps towards Remy McElroy. Bloodline’s bassist had offered to marry them─having gotten ordained at some point in his life, apparently─and solving the issue on what they would do seeing as neither of them were religious. Their parents had been besides themselves at first, feeling isolated in their respective faiths, but once the decision was made, there wasn’t much they could do but complain.

And complain they did, mumbling to the people around them─whether they were listening or not─until the reception. Or until they were hushed into silence because it was time for the grooms’ first dance. Elton John himself there to sing.

“For my two crazy little love birds,” he said from behind the piano bench, fingers skillfully dancing over the keys in a way only Logan Conroy could ever outdo, “who unfortunately never brought me into bed with them despite my pleas.”

A chuckle washed over the sea of watching people, Roman smiling with them before closing his eyes and losing himself in the way they swayed together─trusting Virgil to guide him with a calloused hand clasped in his own and the other comfortably settled on the small of his back. Elton’s voice flooded the reception room with a chilling calm, but only Roman heard the harmony whispered on his lover’s─no,  _ husband’s _ ─breath.

Roman’s eyes opened and there,  _ there _ was Virgil. His lover, husband, soulmate. He had heard him sing before, of course he had─they had spent thirty years together and Virgil had a beautiful voice. But aside from the few songs at Summer Fest their sophomore year of high school and “Keep On Loving You” back in ‘83, he had only ever sung for Roman when the two were alone.

And yet here he was, here  _ they _ were, an hour into marriage, and Virgil had pushed aside his fear of judgement for Roman, to sing him a love song and make the moment he had been picturing since youth all the more amazing.

_ “My gift is my song and this one’s for you.” _

It was hardly a surprise when Roman’s head fell onto Virgil’s shoulder in a vain attempt to conceal his sobs, Virgil clutching him tightly as he continued to sing into the other’s ear in a voice no louder than a whisper. Had Roman─either Castillo, Prince, or Irons─looked up, he would have seen tears in his husband’s eyes too. Because although he had relentlessly teased Roman about the prospect of marriage after so long together, it hadn’t been until that moment, seeing tears and pure  _ joy _ in his soulmate’s eyes while they danced to his favorite Elton John song, that Virgil understood that marrying Roman was a dream come true. For both of them.

It was the happiest he had ever seen Roman in all their years together, and the sight made his old heart swell.

While Logan still couldn’t understand─Hell, no one else in the world got it─Virgil did, and it was all Roman needed as he squeezed his husband tighter and let the last notes of the keys guide the final steps of their dance.

When the music faded, they were joined in a way they hadn’t been before, golden rings and eyes gleaming.

“Weddings, huh?” Virgil breathed, tilting Roman’s head up and it was only then that he saw tears in the other’s silver eyes. Of course Virgil was crying, it was  _ Virgil,  _ afterall. The big softie.

“Stupid, I don’t think we should ever do it again.”

Virgil’s laughter was met with a loving kiss from his husband, the newly-weds ignoring the clapping from their friends and family as they focused on only each other. As they always had and always would.

Because there was not a single soul in the world like Virgil Irons, and not a single person alive loved Roman Castillo more than him.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh Boy am i emotional rn.
> 
> so this is officially it, the end of an era.
> 
> i would like to thank you all for sticking around bc i know how long this has been and i’m really glad you’ve enjoyed. thank you mac for 1, coming up with the idea (over a year ago now but it feels like yesterday), 2, helping me plot (and convincing me to let them get back together), and 3, falling just as in love with roman castillo and virgil irons as i did (also 5 for virgil and patton’s last names, you rock).
> 
> i’m like actually really sad that this is over bc it has been such a big part of my year and i really, really love these characters (i hope you do as well). but, onto the next story, i guess (although i might take like a week break bc christ, i really banged the majority of this fic in like no time at all. wow, damn.)
> 
> until next time,  
> a crying ronnie


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